Page 3 - Physical Look - Inside
After removing all the side panels, we can have a closer look into the interior of the Cooler Master MasterBox TD500 Mesh V2. The white color scheme remains constant throughout the entire chassis. The power supply shroud covers practically the entire bottom of the case, leaving cutouts for cable routing, fans, and a radiator near the front. I am personally happy to have the option to leave the PSU exposed or covered. We have very little space underneath the shroud, given how there is a drive bay here as well. This will make cable management a bit trickier, even though it is a mid-tower. The drive bay is also removable if you do not install any hard drives, allowing you to deal with this issue. There are two breaks in the PSU shroud to allow for cable routing. Additionally, there are three rubber cable grommets beside the motherboard tray to pass cables from front to back with a clean appearance. I personally love cable grommets, because they look better than cutouts placed on panels. They also add some sort of contrast against the full white interior.
Alongside the top are two more cable management cutouts. I found the cutouts to be satisfactory and well-positioned for the CPU power cable and any other cables. I had no issues with the size of the cutouts, as they were plenty large enough for even the thickest cables. The top panel is removable via two screws, which further aids in assisting cable management. You can fit up to three 120mm or two 140mm fans on this panel. Additionally, the panel supports 120mm, 240mm, 280mm, or 360mm radiators. This is an improvement, as in the previous iteration, a 280mm radiator did not fit. There is a magnetic dust filter to reduce the amount of dust coming through. There is no preinstalled 120mm fan at the back, unfortunately.
The tray has preinstalled standoffs for an ATX motherboard. There is a large opening at the back of the motherboard tray for users to install a backplate for third-party CPU coolers. This is helpful for anyone looking to change the CPU cooler after the motherboard is already installed. The MasterBox TD500 Mesh V2 allows for coolers up to 165mm in height, giving plenty of space for most units. The back of the case has seven expansion slots, as mentioned on the previous page.
There are two cutouts on the PSU shroud for cable routing. There is no dedicated cutout for GPU power, making cable management appear a bit less physically appealing. Given the size of this case, routing the cable from the front of the shroud will not be too much of a hassle. The Cooler Master MasterBox TD500 Mesh V2 has a 410mm clearance for graphics cards. Cooler Master has provided three SickleFlow 120 ARGB fans at the front of the case. The MasterBox TD500 Mesh V2 supports front mounted radiators up to 360mm, including 280mm models. The space provided for a front mounted radiator is adequate and quite spacious.
Taking a closer look at the fans, the three included CF120 ARGB fans do not have any anti-vibration pads, meaning they may vibrate against the chassis. Cooler Master claims to have a dust filter on the front panel, but in actuality, this is their mesh panel with their FineMesh technology to provide airflow and dust filtration. In my experience, a mesh panel does assist in dust filtration, but I would have appreciated an additional dust filtration layer. Despite this, the high airflow provided is a worthy tradeoff. All the provided fans are 4-pin PWM fans connected to a fan controller. The benefit of having PWM fans is the precise control over fan speeds and using a controller creates a central hub for easy cable management.
The back of the Cooler Master MasterBox TD500 Mesh V2 looks standard compared to many other cases on the market. The MasterBox TD500 Mesh V2 includes a drive bay capable of holding two 2.5" or 3.5” drives. Two more 2.5” drives can be mounted on the back of the motherboard tray as well. The case does not come preinstalled with Velcro straps, but it does come with an abundance of zip ties. I personally opted to use my own Velcro straps. There are several tie-down points that can be optimally used for clean cable management. The area dedicated to cable management is average, having 19mm of space between the motherboard tray and the right side panel. Being a mid-tower case, cable management can get tricky at times, depending on the number or thickness of the cables, but I generally found it to be adequate.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
